Kochi: If small and medium hospitals have to survive amidst increasing competition from corporate hospitals, then they need to come together to share a common platform.

Realising this, the Kerala private hospitals association (KPHA) has already started getting the 1,391 hospitals under it to share its resources that would ultimately lead to better healthcare facility and cut down costs.

"Once there is coordination and networking between hospitals, the costs will drastically reduce and the hospitals won't have to fear closure due to increased costs," said KPHA general secretary Hussain Koya Thangal.

He was speaking at the Healthcare Informatics and Management Conference (HIMAGCON 2017) for hospital administrators and managers at Sunrise Hospital on Saturday. He said that the hospitals have better bargaining power when they join hands. "Our hospital authorities have started realizing that the power of harmony and combined networking. It would help in the purchase of medicines, digitisation of medical records and sharing of doctors and expertise," added Koya.

The Indian Medical Association (IMA), Kochi, president Dr M Narayanan said that once Clinical Establishment Act comes into force, digitisation of medical records will become essential.

Dr R Padmakumar, senior surgeon, Sunrise Hospital, said that private hospitals are completely customer-driven and the aim should be to ensure 100% delivery leading to customer satisfaction.

With immense pride “India Live” celebrated its 10th national conference in Mumbai from 28th February to 3rd March 2019. The conference turned out to be a gold mine of information, with emphasis on academics, education and exchange of knowledge with leaders in interventional cardiology from both India and abroad.